#AGU20 Student Travel Grant recipients & Outstanding Student Presentation Award program is open

Usually, students use AGU travel grant funds for accommodations to attend AGU Fall Meeting (and remember last year’s Austin Student Travel Challenge?). This year, since AGU20 is 100% virtual many early career scientists from around the world are using the funds to pay for everything from Internet access and laptops to childcare.

This year, we have awarded over 250 early career professionals and students the opportunity to attend Fall Meeting through grants and fellowship awards. The 2020 recipients represented more than 30 different countries and 25 AGU sections.

• 222 students were awarded the 2020 student travel grants from over 30 countries on 6 continents.
• 30 students and early career professionals were awarded Berkner Travel Fellowship with 25 AGU sections represented.
• 6 grand prize winners and 3 runner-up winners were awarded in the Michael H. Freilich Student Data Visualization Competition.

We all know how important AGU’s Outstanding Student Presentation Award (OSPA) program is to students who thrive on the feedback the program provides. The OSPA program is designed to promote, recognize and reward quality research for associate, undergraduate, master’s and doctoral students in Earth and space sciences. Even though we are virtual, judging and awards will happen during AGU Fall Meeting.

Since this program started, we’re proud to have had tens of thousands of scientists who have taken advantage of the OSPA program that provides feedback to strengthen their presentation and communication skills. I can still remember the important feedback I got on my first AGU talk, the last talk in the last session on Friday.

PARTICIPATE: Sign up to be an OSPA participant

If you are a student looking for constructive feedback and guidance to successfully communicate your research, sign up by 6 November at 11:59 pm ET to be an OSPA participant. Students will be given awards within each section to recognize quality research and the ability to effectively communicate it.

To qualify, you must be:

• An AGU student member with an accepted abstract for AGU Fall Meeting 2020.
• A lead author on the presented abstract.
• Pursuing an associate’s, undergraduate, master’s or doctoral degree.

If you did not check the box for OSPA when you submitted your abstract, you may sign up now. For additional information about OSPA student participation get more details at OSPA’s How to Participate for students.

SUPPORT STUDENTS: Sign up to be an OSPA volunteer judge

Whether you were a past OSPA participant or want to volunteer to help students improve their presentation skills, sign up to serve as a judge during Fall Meeting after 10 November.

To serve as an OSPA judge, individuals must be:

• An AGU member
• Registered to participate in #AGU20

After 10 November, accepted volunteer judges will be able to start signing up for presentations. Access to the OSPA Judge Showcase will be on the OSPA’s homepage.

SCHEDULE: Add #AGU20 Student and Early Career Conference

Add the free AGU Student and Early Career Scientist Conference when you register for AGU Fall Meeting. We will provide training and discussions on professional development and skills-building for up to 500 attendees. This year’s event will be composed of several pre-Fall Meeting web meetings, a series of presentations and lounge chats during Fall Meeting and a post-Fall Meeting webinar in early 2021.